India hammer Malaysia 8-1 for third straight win in Hero Asian Champions Trophy Hockey

Hero of the Match Araijeet Singh Hundal – ACT 2024.

Khel Today Bureau

Hulunbuir (China): Defending champions India ensured a semi-final berth as they hammered Malaysia 8-1 for their third successive win in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament.

India’s strong opening was led by Raj Kumar Pal (3rd, 25th and 33rd minute) with three goals and Araijeet Singh Hundal (6th and 39th minute) had two, Jugraj Singh (7th minute), Harmanpreet Singh (22nd minute) and Uttam Singh (40th minute) scored for India, while Malaysia’s lone goal came from Akhimullah Anuar (34th minute).

The Paris Olympics bronze medallists, India are now on top of the standings with nine points from three wins.

The six-team tournament is being played in a round-robin format and the top four will advance to the semi-finals on September 16 followed by the final on September 17 at the Moqi Training Base in Hulunbuir, China.

India have won the Hero Asian Champions Trophy four times in the past and last year beat Malaysia in the final.

Earlier in the first match of the day, Pakistan got their first win as they beat Japan 2-1. Nadeem Ahmed (9^th) and Sufyan Khan (24^th) scored for Pakistan and skipper Raiki Fujushima (27^th) scored for Japan.

While India has three wins from three matches, China and Pakistan are the only other teams with a win and they have one each.

India looked set for double digits as they had scored eight goals in the first three quarters. But, they failed to any in the final quarter.

For the defending champions rode on a superb attacking display, led by Raj Kumar Pal who scored his maiden international hat-trick. 20-year-old Hundal Araijeet Singh won the Hero of the Match award for scoring two goals in a fine display of attacking hockey.

For India five goals came from field goals and the remaining three came from penalty corners. Actually India could have scored more as they got 15 penalty corners, but it was better than just one first two matches,

India made 27 circle penetrations, 12 more than Malaysia and had 55 percent possession and dominated the proceedings.

India’s first win was 3-0 against China and then beat Japan 5-1 in the second.

India began strongly and never looked back. Raj Kumar Pal scored early in the third minute and three minutes later, Hundal Araijeet Singh added a superb goal. Within a minute of that Jugraj Singh made it 3-0.

Harmanpreet Singh in action – ACT 2024

Skipper Harmanrpeet Singh drag-flicked for the fourth goal and Raj Kumar Pal then completed his hat-trick, scoring once each in the second and third quarters. Hundal found the back of the net in the third quarter to get his second goal and Uttam Singh made it 8-1. Anuar Akhimullah scored their only goal in the third quarter.